Celebrating Ocean and Earth day at National Oceanography Centre

Mar 26, 2012 // by Athena // Blog // Comments Off

It is Saturday, 17th March 2012, 10:30am and a lively, colourful crowd is standing outside the doors of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), in the docks of Southampton.

It is the Ocean and Earth Day, and as part of this year’s celebration of National Science and Engineering Week, NOC opens its doors to show the public the amazing range, variety and excellence of the work we do at the NOC.

More than 3100 visitors (a record breaker) were treated to an exciting and engaging series of around 63 displays and presentations, focused specifically on children with the aim of inspiring future ocean and earth scientists and engineers.

The Descent into the Icehouse (@IntotheIcehouse) participated in the event with a poster display and information material about our research work. More than 300 children and their parents attended our stand and it was fantastic to see the excitement in the children’s faces discovering through a microscope the tiny world of sea-dwelling organisms, the foraminifers and coccolithophorids.

Ocean and Earth Day 2012: Descent into the Icehouse display

Our scientists and volunteers were brilliant; they shared their passion about science, inspired the young audience and parents to explore and discover the wonders of nature, and they explained the role of foraminifers and the carbonate cycle in the regulation and evolution of the Earth system.

Eleni Anagnostou, a participant of the “Descent into the Icehouse” and an Ocean and Earth day volunteer, said:

….it was great explaining the life of forams, the evolution of Earth, and climate, and observe kids and adults get caught into a magic world of potential.

Finding another world under the microscope

And, Migue A. Martínez-Botí, also a participant of the project, added:

I really enjoyed Ocean and Earth Day 2012. It was great to show kids and their families what we do at the University of Southampton and to help them discover another world under the microscope!